County officials sworn in Thursday

Newly elected Sheriff Billy Lamb and re-elected Mayor Joe Boyd Liggett were sworn in last Thursday, and so were 18 new and old county commissioners.

The commissiners were sworn in for a four-year term, so that they could get right to work this week making decisions for Marshall County.

The new County Commission met in special-called session Tuesday to choose a chairman, and this was followed by a meeting of the nominating committee to pick members for the various committees.

Perhaps most important of these right now is the budget committee, whose members should be present for a public hearing on the 2014-2015 budget, scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday, in Room 2209 of the Courthouse Annex, Lewisburg.

At the commission's first regular meeting, on Sept. 22, commissioners are due to vote on the budget, which was approved by the old budget committee at their last meeting, held after the swearing in.

There are eight new faces on the county commission: Tony Beyer, Bob Hopkins, Tina Lilly, Danny Morgan, Jennifer Smith, Joseph Warner, Glen White, and R.L. Williams. All together, they represent a vast pool of knowledge in areas as diverse as business and finance, emergency management, and education.

Familiar faces who will be missing -- either because they chose not to run again, or because they were defeated -- include those of Rocky Bowden, Richard Hill, Nathan Johnson, Don Ledford, Reynelle Smith, Barry Spivey, and Kevin Vanhooser. Every district except the 9th has at least one commissioner who has served before. Tom Sumners and Nathan Johnson represented the 9th District, but Sumners resigned earlier this year, and Johnson was defeated in his bid for re-election.

Committees that county commissioners serve on, in addition to budget, include education, emergency management, law enforcement, road, solid waste, and building, to name just a few.

Casual observers may be surprised how quickly a full county commission meeting is conducted. Resolutions are presented and voted on, often without comment. This is possible because the resolutions have all been extensively discussed in committee meetings, and only move forward to the full commission with a committee's recommendation. Committees usually have a close relationship with the head of the department they are involved with, for instance, the education committee with Director of Schools Jackie Abernathy, the road committee with Superintendent of Highways Jerry Williams, and so on.

Visit www.marshallcountytn.com and click on "County Commission" and then "Board and Committees" to see the multitude of committees and boards which keep Marshall County running smoothly.